grid with expandable area below each row?

[David Schwartz 426]

I'm looking for a grid that's like the DevEx Quantum Grid that let you open an area below a selected row to enter or display notes. I can't justify the price for just that one thing.

 

Does anybody know of something similar? Or ideas on how to create something similar?

 

(You could put a memo at the bottom of a panel with the grid above it; but if you're looking at a row at the top of the panel, the notes are all the way at the bottom. I'd like the notes to be right below the selected row the user is focused on.)

[FPiette 383]

1 hour ago, David Schwartz said:

Or ideas on how to create something similar?

It looks fairly simple to me: create a form with the UI you need for that area. Then when the user ask for that area, just show the form as a popup located where the selected row is.

 

[Anders Melander 1782]

17 hours ago, David Schwartz said:

I'm looking for a grid that's like the DevEx Quantum Grid that let you open an area below a selected row to enter or display notes. I can't justify the price for just that one thing.

Maybe you should make a proof of concept using a DevExpress trial first and have your users test it.

We use DevExpress grids and have that feature enabled on a few of them and the users hate it. It looks like a good idea but the usability sucks. Maybe that's just the way DevExpress has implemented it though.

[Ruslan 5]

I've seen something like that in EhLib

[David Schwartz 426]

On 12/31/2020 at 11:40 PM, FPiette said:

It looks fairly simple to me: create a form with the UI you need for that area. Then when the user ask for that area, just show the form as a popup located where the selected row is.

 

I have another app I did that with, sort of like how a combo-box works. But the row that expanded was fixed and rather high up in the form.

 

This one is a list where the bottom is near the bottom of the form.

 

The problem is not so much covering stuff up but opening a space between the rows. Something like how a treeview works.

 

Maybe something that looks and works like a treeview and when all of the nodes are collapsed, it looks like a grid. But when you expand a node / row, it opens an area that doesn't look like a grid row, but a memo box.

[David Schwartz 426]

10 hours ago, Anders Melander said:

Maybe you should make a proof of concept using a DevExpress trial first and have your users test it.

We use DevExpress grids and have that feature enabled on a few of them and the users hate it. It looks like a good idea but the usability sucks. Maybe that's just the way DevExpress has implemented it though.

I'm just designing it. No users yet.

 

TBH, I don't like how it looks on the DevEx grids either.

 

I want to be able to display more details close to the data row itself. So it's either below that row, or in a popup, or maybe a block to the right of the list/grid.

 

The DevEx grid idea came to mind, but I'm not stuck on it. 

[Stano 143]

VirtualStringTree? I don't know DevEx Quantum Grid or similar components. I can't judge.

[Anders Melander 1782]

3 hours ago, David Schwartz said:

TBH, I don't like how it looks on the DevEx grids either.

It's not the look that's the problem. It's the usability.

The DevExpress grid has both a preview pane and an in-place edit form feature. I'm referring to the edit form, I suspect you're referring the the preview pane.

In-place editor form:

 

Preview:

 

3 hours ago, David Schwartz said:

maybe a block to the right of the list/grid.

That sounds more sensible to me. Like a property inspector.

The problem with putting stuff into the grid is that is interferes with the nice overview the grid layout provides.

 

3 hours ago, David Schwartz said:

I'm just designing it. No users yet.

Regardless it would still be a good idea to create a mockup before investing too much time on this.

[Guest]

16 hours ago, Anders Melander said:

We use DevExpress grids and have that feature enabled on a few of them and the users hate it. It looks like a good idea but the usability sucks. Maybe that's just the way DevExpress has implemented it though.

They call it "preview" and i agree, it is impossible to have it work properly for en users. IIRCC it was implemented way back to mimic Outlooks e-mail list.

The other way to edit records is something they work on constantly IMHO, the new LayoutView and more. Even a carousel (!?). But i so so agree, my users do not want that. It's messy.

 

Oops! You supplied images after i posted. Cool, anders!

 

I put a master and then details in other grids (more classical). If i have fields that are absolutely not suited to go into the grid, i link a static DBAware control to the DataSet and column. For me that is mostly good enough. Also, making it so that only visible data is fetched is much more simple (IMHO) with my "design".

 

 

The fields in the red square are connected to the same DataSet as the master grid on level 1.

I would put something under the detail the same way, (would be the green one for "Costs").

Edited January 2, 2021 by Guest
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[A.M. Hoornweg 144]

There's also this thingy called "tGridpanel" in Delphi. I have never used it myself though.